Turkish authorities detained more than 100 people Sunday during an anti-NATO protest march organized by the Communist Party of Turkey, known as the TKP, ahead of a major alliance summit scheduled for next week in Ankara.
Turkey is set to host leaders from all 32 NATO member nations, along with officials from partner countries, for a summit taking place Tuesday and Wednesday in the capital. In preparation for the high-profile gathering, authorities have significantly increased security throughout Ankara, prohibiting demonstrations, blocking off large sections of the city, and shutting down numerous roads.
The TKP released a statement saying it had organized a protest march at Kizilay square, located in central Ankara, and that more than 100 party members — including party administrators — had been taken into custody.
Video from the scene showed protesters waving flags and chanting phrases such as “Murderer NATO, get out of country” and “No passage to NATO” as riot police moved in, deploying tear gas to scatter the demonstrators.
In Istanbul, a separate TKP-organized march drew hundreds of participants who walked from Taksim Square to Dolmabahce. Two additional protests were held by leftist organizations in the city’s Kadikoy district. Despite a visible police presence, those Istanbul demonstrations remained peaceful with no confrontations reported.
“We have gathered today in many parts of Turkey to protest against NATO,” TKP Secretary General Kemal Okutan declared during the Istanbul demonstration.
“We said that we would not hand over Ankara to supporters of NATO, that we would not allow Ankara to remain silent. We have fulfilled that promise,” he added.
The Turkish government had not issued any response to the protests or the detentions as of Sunday.
Last month, authorities arrested 103 people during anti-terror raids in Ankara in which a total of 225 individuals were detained. On Sunday, media also reported that 39 additional people — among them journalists from independent news organizations, activists, and academics — were detained in anti-terror operations conducted across the country.
Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the court-appointed chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, both condemned the detentions, calling them unacceptable actions that interfere with basic rights in the lead-up to the NATO summit.
“The country has been fully turned into a detention centre by using the NATO summit as an excuse,” Bakirhan wrote on X. “We are living through days of undeclared martial law.”
Turkish prosecutors have previously stated that the operations were aimed at uncovering militant group activities, making no reference to the upcoming summit in their explanations.
